The Crab Bowl Classic is the name given to the Maryland–Navy football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry between the Maryland Terrapins football team of the University of Maryland and the Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy. The two institutions, located in close proximity in the state of Maryland, first met for a football game in 1905. Since then, the series has often been marked by controversy, with incidents by players and supporters occurring both on and off the field.Rick Snider, Ill will lingers at Navy, Maryland; Rivalry to restart in Crab Bowl, The Washington Times, page 1, August 29, 2005.Alex Baldinger, , The Diamondback, August 31, 2005, accessed November 18, 2008. The winner of the game is awarded the Crab Bowl trophy.
Navy dominated the series early by winning the first eight games, between 1905 and 1930, which remains the longest streak. Maryland secured its first win in 1931 at a neutral site in Washington, D.C. After two more meetings, the series was suspended in 1934 when the Maryland administration protested a play.
The teams met again in 1950 when Navy had a last-minute opening in its schedule. The Terrapins won three consecutive games from 1950 to 1952, and the Midshipmen won three from 1958 to 1963. During the 1964 game, a Maryland player twice flashed an obscene gesture, which prompted Navy to cancel the series again. After contractual obligations were fulfilled with the following year's game, the series was put on hiatus for 40 years. Maryland and Navy finally resumed the rivalry in 2005 and again in 2010, with the Terps winning both contests.Maryland 23, Navy 20, ESPN, Associated Press, September 3, 2005, accessed November 20, 2008.Maryland stuns Navy 17–14, YahooSports.com, September 6, 2010, accessed September 12, 2010.
Background
The Naval Academy and the University of Maryland are separated by about 30 miles in the state of Maryland. The schools by their nature, a Federal service academy and a public university, differ radically in terms of culture and lifestyle. For many years, the University of Maryland possessed the reputation of a blue-collar, working-class school. Some students viewed the Naval Academy, with its strictly regimented culture, as elitist. A former Terrapins linebacker, Jerry Fishman, believed that many Midshipmen "thought they were far superior to the Maryland redneck coal miners." A former Navy fullback, Pat Donnelly, said that compared to a "public institution, [the Naval Academy] was night and day. I think there was a feeling of mutual dislike, but it wasn’t personal, it was more institutional."
According to former Maryland head coach (and former Maryland player) Ralph Friedgen, the sentiment at Navy has been that beating their archrival "Army is a must, but Maryland is a necessity."Play by Play , Terp Magazine, Spring 2005. Darryl Hill, who attended both schools and broke the color barrier on each team, said that the Midshipmen "had a saying that beating Army is great, but beating Maryland is a must."
Despite a lopsided start in the early 20th century, the Terps and Midshipmen were evenly matched for most of the history of the series. Between 1931 and 1965, Navy won six and Maryland five games. In the 2005 season opener, Navy was coming off one of its best seasons in history with a 10–2 record the previous year. Maryland struggled later in 2005, but proved a competitive match for Navy and achieved a last-minute win, 23–20., University of Maryland, August 29, 2005, accessed November 19, 2008.
In addition to proximity and competitiveness, the rivalry was fueled by controversial incidents both on and off the field. Maryland supporters long held that Navy players used unnecessary roughness during play, a charge counter-accused by the Academy after the 1963 game. Some Midshipmen would travel to College Park to meet female students, which served to aggravate the ill feelings. Pranks and vandalism were commonplace on both campuses and exacerbated the already tense situation between Maryland and Navy.
Series history
Early Years: 1905–1934 On October 25, 1905, the team then known as the Maryland Agricultural "Farmers" (or "Aggies") traveled to Annapolis to meet the Navy "Admirals" for the first time. In the first eight games of the series, Navy outscored the teams of the Maryland Agricultural College, Maryland State College (1916 and 1917), and finally, the University of Maryland (1930 onwards) by a combined margin of 256 points to 7.
The 1930 game proved to be the first competitive match of the series. Navy scored the only points with a 65-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. The remainder was a defensive struggle, and Navy and Maryland advanced to the opposing one- and nine-yard lines, respectively, before being rebuffed.Lucky Bag, Class of 1931 yearbook, United States Naval Academy, p. 431, 1930. The 1931 match-up was held for the first time at a neutral site, Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. In the first Maryland win of the series, the Terrapins scored the only points on a trick "triple-pass" play.Lucky Bag, Class of 1932 yearbook, United States Naval Academy, p. 391, 1931. The Maryland administration put a halt to the series in 1934 amidst claims that Navy scored the winning go-ahead, 16–13, on an illegal play after reviewing game tape.
Revival: 1950–52 The series resumed in 1950 after Georgetown unexpectedly canceled a scheduled game with Navy. Maryland agreed to fill in for Georgetown and hosted the Academy for the Byrd Stadium dedication game in front of a then Washington area-record crowd of 43,836 fans.Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium , University of Maryland, accessed November 20, 2008. The two teams last met in 1934, and since that time the Terrapins had hired head coach Jim Tatum. Tatum, an innovator of the split-T offense, had brought consistent success to Maryland in the intervening years.Gary King, The Forgotten Man of Oklahoma Football: Jim Tatum , Sooner Magazine, University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc., Spring 2008, retrieved December 17, 2008. Fearing a renewal of post-game mischief, the Midshipmen attending the match were given strict orders: "Behave like gentlemen and go straight home after the Maryland–Navy football game in College Park tomorrow. No midshipmen will enter the goal post activity or other altercation following the game."
Newspapers predicted that Navy would win the 1950 game due to the inexperience of the Maryland quarterbacks, who were led by 19-year-old sophomore Jack Scarbath.Terrapin, Class of 1951 yearbook, University of Maryland, p. 281. A week before, Scarbath had his first start in a 27–7 loss to Georgia, but he would later become one of Maryland's greatest quarterbacks and the 1952 Heisman Trophy runner-up.1952 – 18th Award , Heisman.com, retrieved February 10, 2009.Year-By-Year Results , 2007 Terrapin Football Record Book, University of Maryland, 2007, retrieved February 10, 2009.
In the first quarter against Navy, Scarbath scored on a quarterback keeper. Before the half, he completed passes to ends Stan Karnash and Pete Augsburger for 44- and 59-yard touchdowns. In the third quarter, the Midshipmen responded with a score of their own. In the final period, Maryland end Elmer Wingate returned an interception 34 yards for another touchdown. Then, 54 seconds later, end Lew Weidensaul recovered a Midshipmen fumble, which allowed Ed Modzelewski to rush five yards for the final score by the Terrapins. Navy scored twice more, but Maryland held on to win, 35–21.
In 1951, pranks soon returned to the two campuses. Midshipmen were caught in the act of painting the letter "N" on various buildings on the Maryland campus and defacing the grass with the Navy emblem. Early in the 1951 game, Navy's Frank Brady returned a punt 100 yards to take the lead, 7–0. It was the only time of Maryland's undefeated season that they trailed an opponent. The Terrapins responded, and by the end of the third quarter, they had taken the game in hand, 34–7. Against the stubborn Navy line, Scarbath resorted to the pass more than usual, and completed 16 of 34 for 285 yards. Despite a late Midshipmen surge, Maryland held on for the win, 40–21.Terrapin, Class of 1952 yearbook, University of Maryland, p. 171.
Navy resurgence: 1958–1963 Maryland struggled after the departure of Jim Tatum, and, in the next meeting in 1958, Navy routed them, 40–14. In 1959, Maryland students painted a presumptive final score of "Maryland 59, Navy 0" on the statue of Tecumseh in front of Bancroft Hall. The prediction was off the mark, as first-year head coach Wayne Hardin and future Heisman-winning halfback Joe Bellino helped Navy to a victory, 22–14.Ted Patterson and Edwin H. Remsberg, Football in Baltimore, 2000, JHU Press, .
In the early 1960s, the Terrapins were coached by former Florida State head coach Tom Nugent. While with the Seminoles, Nugent had wanted to recruit a black player, but felt the racial climate there was unsuitable. He said that "the head of the Ku Klux Klan lived in Tallahassee. You'd come to your car and there'd be a notice on it announcing a Klan meeting that night." When he took over at Maryland in 1959, Nugent saw his opportunity. He instructed the Terrapins' quarterbacks coach Lee Corso to find a black player who was academically and athletically suited to come to College Park. Corso had been impressed by Roger Staubach's preferred receiver, Darryl Hill, during a freshman match between Maryland and Navy, and had also heard a rumor that he was considering leaving the Naval Academy. In 1962, Corso convinced Hill to transfer to Maryland, a school that had just 32 African-Americans in its 35,000 student body, and become the first black player in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Once there, Hill quickly befriended the team's only Jew, linebacker Jerry Fishman.Tom D'Angelo, , University of Maryland, October 25, 2006, accessed January 17, 2008.
Middle-finger incident: 1964 Before the 1964 game, Maryland supporters stole the Navy mascot, Bill the Goat, but what happened in the game itself was far more controversial.Mark Selig, "Old rivalry revisited", The Diamondback, August 31, 2005, accessed January 17, 2008. Terrapin players said they would seek revenge against Navy for roughing up Darryl Hill in 1963. Roger Staubach, Navy's Heisman Trophy quarterback, said that "it was not a friendly game ... Jerry [Fishman] did not have friendliness in his eyes. He had an extra mean streak that day."
After a punt return, Fishman was penalized for a hard hit that injured receiver Skip Orr directly in front of the Navy stands, intensifying the ever-present heckling from the crowd. In response, Fishman approached the Brigade of Midshipmen section and raised an extended middle finger. After Fishman was penalized again for a late hit on Staubach, Fishman gave the obscene gesture for a second time. High-ranking Navy officers noticed Fishman's middle finger and became incensed. Staubach later said that Fishman "told the fans he thought Maryland was number one and got his fingers wrong."
Due to Fishman's actions, Academy officials allowed their contractual obligation to the series to lapse after the 1965 game. Years later, Bud Thalman, Navy sports information director at the time, said the incident had taken place "when there was still some level of sportsmanship in athletes ... It was so out of character it was stunning. There was no inclination from Navy to seek out a renewal. That untoward act of sportsmanship created a bad taste among people." Navy head coach Wayne Hardin called Fishman's act "a disgrace to college football." Maryland's head coach, Tom Nugent, had a different opinion and said, "Both teams appeared to be just a bunch of red-blooded guys trying to kill each other."